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Rockland County Executive Day Hails Freeze On Bridge, Thruway Tolls

CLARKSTOWN, N.Y. -- Rockland County Executive Ed Day, reacting to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s State of the State address Wednesday, said he was relieved that the governor has found a way to freeze certain highway and bridge tolls.

Rockland County Executive Ed Day

Rockland County Executive Ed Day

Photo Credit: Facebook

Despite the fact that Cuomo’s “grand agenda for New York appears overly ambitious,” Day said he was “pleased that $1 billion of the state's $5 billion bank settlement will be spent to freeze tolls until 2020 on the Thruway and the Tappan Zee Bridge, including the new bridge.”

Day was referring to the $4.5 billion windfall that the state saw in August thanks to a number of settlements with insurance companies and banks, including the Bank of America, which paid $300 million, according to a report in The Daily News.

Commuters and businesses, Day said, can no longer “afford the burden of even-higher tolls.”

According to a report in The New York Times, Cuomo has unveiled a plan to spend $22 billion to fix the state’s roads and bridges.

Several months ago, the Times also reported, the governor promised to earmark $8 billion for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s plan to improve New York City’s subways and commuter rail system.

Day also backed the governor's proposal to transfer the state Canal Corporation out of the Thruway Authority.

The move, he said, “will help keep local dollars from maintaining a canal system most of us will never use.”

Day said, however, that he was disappointed that Cuomo’s plans did not focus more on mandate relief.

“Unfunded state mandates continue to grow, crushing our local governments, with no end in sight," Day said.

To read a related story to the State of the State address, click here.

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